Friday, February 15, 2013

Smitten: Mr. Bates + Anna

Valentine's Day has come and gone, but we can still talk about love, right?!?

As of yesterday, I'm caught up on Downton Abbey.
{Now, *what* will I do with my free time?!?}

Side note: Let me say that watching Downton Abbey has made me long for a return to chivalry, manners, dressing for dinner, and politeness. Yesterday, at the Godiva store, I approached the cashier to buy a truffle from the case. Instead of asking "how may I help you," or even "hello," the cashier said, "what's up?" Only when I got in the car did I think that I should have answered, "yo."

Anyhoo...no spoilers here, since I know many of you are just jumping on the Downton bandwagon, but ever since there was that little spark between Anna & Mr. Bates in the first episode, I've been completely smitten with these two. ♥

And, I thought their cookies deserved a little lace.

Lace is about the easiest way to decorate a cookie with piping. You really can't do it wrong...and you get major bang for your buck...or pipe...or whatever. It looks classy and elegant and all you did was pipe on random designs. (I'll link at the bottom of the post to some lace inspiration from other blogs.)

Use a #3 tip to outline the cookies in black icing. (I chose a #3 tip here since I really wanted the outline to show.)

Thin the purple and ivory icings with water, a bit at a time,
stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a
thick syrup. (Reserve some of the white icing for piping details
later.) You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl
and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand
two." Four is too thick, one is too thin. Count of 2-3 is good. Cover
with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed. Pour into squeeze bottles.

Fill in the outlines with the thinned
icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and to pop large air
bubbles.

Let the cookies dry for at least one hour.

Use a #1 tip to pipe a lace pattern and/or personalization onto the cookies. For inspiration, try an google image search for "simple lace" or "lace patterns."

48 comments:

Downton Abbey is the best! These cookies are adorable. I know the feeling when you finally catch up with shows that you're just getting into (it sucks), but I guess the positive is that now you'll be less likely to have any plot points spoiled for you, simply because you'll be watching with the rest of us :)

I love the whole show! I don't think I've ever watched a TV show I've enjoyed as much as this one. The costumes and dialogues are outstanding. My favorite is probably Edith, though I do love Mary for her rarely bending, old school ways. I too miss the days of manners. People are so inconsiderate nowadays. It's a really sad state of affairs.

I'm way beyond in love with those two. That show is my singular obsession. I mean oh my gosh! I have all three seasons on Bluray and they are practically on repeat all the time. John Bates and Anna are just magical - and how it made me realize how much I miss chivalrous, courteous and well mannered people. These are cookie perfection Bridget.

I have recently become totally ADDICTED to this show. I started watching this season, and then I went back to Season one. I only let myself watch one or two episodes @ a time, because I don't ever want it to end. It's hard to say which relationship I like the most....probably Mary and Matthew, just because Matthew is such a mensch. Love that man! You are so clever to think of making cookies as a tribute to the show.

Great job on the cookies. I too think Anna and Mr. Bates would agree!I love the show too. I agree that manners and respect all seem to be missing from today's society. Never knew growing up that I'd be referring to the "good old days" so soon!

Being in the service business for soooo long I guess I expect everyone to treat me the way that I treat people...the "whats up" would have not set well with me either...but I have a question, how do you get your black so black, sometimes mine turns grey and sometime I see some green!! do you use a lot??...m

I entered the Downton Abby community late and had to watch a year and a half of episodes to get caught up because it is both contagious and addictive. Somewhere between the manners of that era and what we deal with today is a happier medium for sure. I'm afraid I might have said something to that person, seriously...and beyond 'yo' too!

I'll be jumping on the Downton Abby bandwagon very soon and I know I have a lot of catching up to do but I'm looking forward to it. Love these cookies. Outlining in black piping and doing the lace design with the black really makes them pop! Very nice.